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Guidelines for remote working arrangements at Eesti Maaülikool

Estonian Government recommends all employees to work, if possible, remotely in order to stop the spread of coronavirus and avoid contraction at work place. Therefore, Estonian University of Life Sciences shall adopt the following principles of remote work organisation for the entire duration of the crisis.

  1. The employer and employee shall agree on remote work conditions in a format which can be reproduced in writing. The agreement shall not be introduced in the form of a change to the employment contract, as it is a temporary arrangement aimed at acquiring control over the outbreak of the virus.
  2. The direct organiser of the work shall review the list of duties and the forms of their control. Moreover, the employer and remotely working employee shall agree on the means and forms of communication (including meetings) between direct organiser of the work, colleagues, students, partners, and others.
  3. The direct organiser of the work shall agree with a remotely working employee on the necessary working equipment and its availability. The parties shall agree on the type of equipment (e.g. laptop, monitor, office chair, keyboard, mouse, web-camera, etc.) allowed to be taken home for remote work period and the time of returning them. It is possible to agree that remotely working employee shall perform work duties using personal equipment.
  4. During remote work period, the employer shall preserve the rules of working and rest time organisation provided by the employment contract, unless the employer and employee agree otherwise for remote work period. However, it may be necessary to agree on specific times when the employee shall be available to the employer.
  5. A remotely working employee shall follow data protection and information security requirements, i.e. shall not process personal data in a public area or using public internet network, and shall use privacy screen protector when working in a public area or during a meeting.
  6. A remotely working employee shall follow requirements provided by Occupational Health and Safety Act. The employee shall ensure the home office is suitable for remote work and does not damage health. Working environment specialist and representative shall help the employee design the working place ergonomically.
  7. A remotely working employee shall do everything within his or her power to avoid accidents in remote working environment. A remotely working employee shall immediately inform the employer of the occupational accident or other hazardous situation. An accident occurring in remote working environment that is not related to performance of work duties shall not be considered an occupational accident (cf. “Procedure for action in the event of a work accident”).
  8. If remotely working employee is unable to perform duties due to state of health, he or she shall immediately inform the direct organiser of the work and a certificate of temporary incapacity for work shall be issued.
  9. Remote work is based on mutual agreement and the parties are entitled to cancel due to justified reasons (e.g. non-compliance with working time, inappropriate performance of work duties, psychosocial factors, such as alienation, etc).